Danny Juarez is third Hawthorne city official in 5 years to face criminal charges

Danny Juarez vowed to clean up Hawthorne politics when he first ran for mayor on a reform-minded platform in 2009.

He led a slate of candidates running for City Council that promised swift change from a political culture dominated by secrecy, allegations of pay-to- play politics and unethical decisions.

Like others before him, Juarez insisted he would bring ethics reform, transparency and accountability to Hawthorne government.

Though he lost that election, Juarez captured the mayor's seat in 2011.

Now, less than a year later, Juarez stands accused of shaking down a local businessman for a couple of thousand dollars. And prosecutors are looking to see whether others could have similarly been pressed for cash by Juarez.

It's the third time in five years that a city official in Hawthorne has faced criminal charges. A fourth investigation by the District Attorney's Office did not lead to charges.

"It's baffling, it leads you to wonder why," said Darlene Love, a longtime Hawthorne resident and community volunteer. "Smiling faces tell lies. Everybody that smiles and pats you on the back doesn't wish you well."

Deputy District Attorney Max Huntsman has overseen several cases against Hawthorne officials for the DA's Public Integrity Division, which also recently prosecuted officials in Bell and Vernon. He is now prosecuting Juarez, and claims the mayor illegally accepted $2,000 from a gym owner on the pretense of repaying campaign debt but then deposited the money into his personal account and never reported the gift on required state forms.

"I don't think there's any inoculation against criminality among politicians - the difference between an honest person and a dishonest person isn't something we can see from the outside," Huntsman said. "The good news is that these guys get caught. It's a never-ending process of cleaning house, bringing people who are supposed to be reformers to justice."

Hawthorne's previous mayor, Larry Guidi, was the target of Juarez's claims that Hawthorne was enmeshed in a culture of corruption. Eight months ago, Guidi pleaded guilty to stealing a commercial food mixer from the school district where he worked.

Additionally, a 2005 criminal investigation into Hawthorne's former towing company, S&W Towing, revealed that the business illegally sold cars in its impound lot. The investigation temporarily focused on Guidi, who was accused of obtaining cars and motorcycles at below-market rates, but he was not charged.

Two years later, Louis Velez - a close ally of Guidi - was indicted on a felony conflict-of-interest charge for voting on contracts for a city businessman who was also his landlord, and who potentially gave him free rent. Velez pleaded guilty and was replaced on the council in 2007 by Juarez.

With the criminal case hanging over his head, Guidi declined to seek re-election in 2011.

As for Juarez, he was indicted by a Los Angeles County criminal grand jury on Oct. 18 on two felony counts of perjury for not reporting a campaign contribution. He pleaded not guilty the following day.

The allegations surfaced after Juarez went to the now-defunct Gold's Gym in 2009 and demanded to see some of its financial documents so he could do an audit, an unusual practice for a city councilman.

The gym's finances were critical to Hawthorne because the city had loaned owner Abram Tavera $2.5 million in federal funds that were designed to improve run-down areas of the city. Juarez believed the 2004 low-interest loan was a kickback from Guidi to Tavera, his friend.

Juarez said he wanted to see the gym's financial books to determine if Tavera truly could not afford to make the loan payments. He did not report any problems after the alleged audit, and Huntsman argues that Juarez requested the documents only to get an idea how much he could personally take from the business.

The prosecutor believes that Juarez was given checks, but returned them to Tavera in exchange for $2,000 cash. He then deposited the money into his personal account, along with other unaccounted for cash, Huntsman said.

Huntsman believes Juarez lied about taking the cash, and instead concocted a story about being offered a check that he returned.

The issue first bubbled up even before Juarez was elected mayor in November 2011, and he addressed it in a campaign flier at the time. The flier, which said "Vote for Truth, Vote for Danny Juarez," quotes the following statement from Juarez:

"The owner of Gold's Gym attempted to give me a campaign donation while I was on the property of Gold's Gym conducting the audit. I returned the check and said, `no thanks, especially since millions of taxpayers' dollars are outstanding by your business.' Offended, he allegedly filed a complaint with the District Attorney's Office claiming that I asked for and accepted cash."

Huntsman scoffs at Juarez's version of events.

"We have reason to believe he deposited a large amount of cash, and it's possible there are other victims out there that were shaken down," Huntsman said. "If he was open and honest, he'd have told the whole truth to the public. The whole point of conflict-of-interest rules is when a public official is benefiting from something financially."

Tavera defaulted on his loan payments a few years after opening the gym on West 147th Street. The gym has since closed and Tavera is going through bankruptcy proceedings.

Both criminal cases against Guidi and Juarez are head-scratchers to some because the amount of money involved was so small, and the consequences so severe.

The food mixer Guidi stole from the Hawthorne School District was worth maybe $1,000. And the case against Juarez alleges he accepted $2,000 in illegal cash.

"To me, it wasn't even worth the effort they put in - the mixer? Why?" said Darlene Love, a regular at Hawthorne City Council meetings for the past 30 years. "Same with Danny - that kinda money wouldn't even pay for one day's (election campaign) mailing. So I question why things like this happen."